Adelaide it is time to rejoice with the off Broadway hit Altar Boyz returning for another season.
The musical comedy will play at the Star Theatres this October and November following a successful run during the Fringe earlier this year. Altar Boyz is about a group of five guys: Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan and Abraham, who met at a local church and formed a boy band spreading the good word trough ‘Funk and Rhyme.’
Director David Gauci, from the Davine Interventionz theatre company, has been part of the theatre scene for over twenty years and says that audiences can again look forward to a ‘different’ theatre experience.
“This is just purely a concert; it’s a really different theatrical experience. People get to participate. If someone wants to get up and start dancing while the boys are doing their show I encourage it. Rarely do you go to a theatre experience where you’re encouraged to buy glow sticks and wave them in the air; that’s why I love this show.”
One of the reasons the show is coming back to Adelaide is to allow people who may have missed it earlier this year during their hectic Fringe schedule.
“When we first ran it for the Fringe, there were so many things on at the same time and there were a lot of people who wanted to come and see it but they were involved in other shows. There were a lot of people in and outside of music theatre that were involved in Fringe or doing cabaret. There were a lot of people who wrote and said they would have loved to have seen it and a lot of people who said they would love to see it again.”
David believes the multi-award winning musical is successful because of the message it delivers.
“I think it’s so successful because in a world where we tend to find our differences in religion and faith, this is a show that actually brings out the commonalities. Music is a wonderful way of getting across a great message of hope and fun and, while this is not a religious show, it does poke fun in a way that is totally inoffensive. I think we’d all like to believe God has a bit of a sense of humour.”
This time round the cast will feature a new addition with David Salter stepping into the role of Juan.
“David Salter has stepped in to play Juan. Some people might know him as a busker and theatre performer. He has had to learn the show in a matter of 12 weeks and he’s done an amazing job.”
“It’s a great cast. They really are five boys that could all be leading men in a show and their learning curve has been phenomenally high. They’re all very good singers and they’re all community theatre actors; none of them have studied dance and every one of these songs are smack bang full of 90s old-school style hip-hop dance. So these guys have had to learn to act, sing and dance to become triple threats in a very short period of time and they have been very good.”
And as for why people still love boy bands – we’re talking One Direction –David had this to say:
“I think with boy bands we all like the idea of rascals that do something good. I think what we like about boy bands is that in a boy band you’ve got something for everyone. There’s going to be someone in that band that’s going to appeal to someone. If you’ve got five boys up there and one’s a brunette, one’s blonde-haired, one’s blue-eyed, one’s darker skinned etc, you’re going to cover a lot of bases.
“Plus,” he continues, “you get that wonderful harmony that comes in four and five parts. When you can hear that happening live, while they’re dancing around and there’s a bit of stage production on top of it I think that really does appeal, mainly to the youngins but this is a show that appeals to everyone.”
Altar Boyz returns to Adelaide on 23 October for a two week run. Read Glam Adelaide’s review of the original season in the 2013 Adelaide Fringe.
Interviewed by Isabella Pittaway
Altar Boyz The Musical
When: 23 October – 2 November 2013
Where: Star Theatres, 145 Sir Donald Bradman Drive, Hilton
Tickets: $18 – $26
Bookings: Book online through TryBooking.com or at the door if available
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